101 Motivational Business Quotes

December 7, 2009

Running a business is like riding a roller coaster. Although it is fun and exciting, there will be times when you feel scared and powerless. During the bad times, there isn’t much you can do other than to keep on pushing forward.

In that spirit, here are 101 quotes that will motivate you to push forward.

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. – Nolan Bushnell

My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job. – Ted Turner

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. – Norman Schwarzkopf

The golden rule for every business man is this: “Put yourself in your customer’s place.” – Orison Swett Marden

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them! – C.J. Walker

The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. – Debbi Fields

Life is too complicated not to be orderly. – Martha Stewart

The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do. – Dennis Waitley

Business opportunities are like buses: there’s always another one coming. – Richard Branson

Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching. – George Van Valkenburg

There is no royal, flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it. For if I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard. – C.J. Walker

Business is more exciting than any game. – Lord Beaverbrook

Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. – Albert Einstein

We are currently not planning on conquering the world. – Sergey Brin

If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business, there’d be millions of no-brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles. Nobody would be left to round out the workforce and execute the business plan. – Bill Rancic

It takes more than capital to swing business. You’ve got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by — Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics. – Ren Mulford Jr.

For all of its faults, it gives most hardworking people a chance to improve themselves economically, even as the deck is stacked in favor of the privileged few. Here are the choices most of us face in such a system: Get bitter or get busy. – Bill O’ Reilly

A man should never neglect his family for business. – Walt Disney

The only limits are, as always, those of vision. – James Broughton

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump

Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: buying and selling. – Anita Roddick

To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully. – Tryon Edwards

Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. – Coco Chanel

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. – Henry Ford

The good or ill of a man lies within his own will. – Epictetus

I have known not a few men who, after reaching the summits of business success, found themselves miserable on attaining retirement age. They were so exclusively engrossed in their day to day affairs that they had no time for friend making. – B.C. Forbes

The cynic says, “One man can’t do anything”. I say, “Only one man can do anything.” – John W. Gardner

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Oprah Winfrey

If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. – Ingvar Kamprad

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations. – Steve Jobs

You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough, I can have it. It’s called perseverance. – Lee Iacocca

The desire of knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it. – Laurence Sterne

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. – David Rockefeller

Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman. – George Soros

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight Eisenhower

If you did not look after today’s business, then you might as well forget about tomorrow. – Isaac Mophatlane

The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas of enthusiasm. – Thomas J. Watson

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games. – Babe Ruth

Being able to touch so many people through my businesses, and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing. – Magic Johnson

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. – James Thurber

The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. – Carlos Castaneda

The great leaders are like the best conductors – they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players. – Blaine Lee

To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. – George Kneller

To the degree we’re not living our dreams; our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves. – Peter McWilliams

The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. – John F. Kennedy

Long-range planning works best in the short term. – Doug Evelyn

The NBA is never just a business. It’s always business. It’s always personal. All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal. – Mark Cuban

You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough. – Joseph E. Levine

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. – Richard Branson

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. – Peter F. Drucker

No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others…or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist. – Calvin Coolidge

Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you. – Henry J. Kaiser

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. – Vince Lombardi

In all realms of life, it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the financial realm. – Suze Orman

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. – Confucius

The first one gets the oyster; the second gets the shell. – Andrew Carnegie

Hire character. Train skill. – Peter Schutz

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. – Bill Gates

Look well to this day. Yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. – Francis Gray

Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools.. but they must be kept to a minimum. – Jeffrey Immelt

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches. – Napoleon Hill

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

Industry is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity. – Charles Dickens

I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages. – Robert Bosch

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. – Mary Kay Ash

In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards. – Donald Trump

In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. – Harold Geneen

To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. – Thomas Watson, Sr.

The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers. – John Egan

There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities. – Michael Dell

I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well. – Alan Greenspan

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

Let’s be honest. There’s not a business anywhere that is without problems. Business is complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings. – Bob Parsons

You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins. – Jim Stovall

The only way around is through. – Robert Frost

You only have to do very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong. – Warren Buffett

The noblest search is the search for excellence – Lyndon B. Johnson

The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is likely to neither make money nor find much fun in life. – Charles M. Schwab

You must remain focused on your journey to greatness. – Les Brown

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt

Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. – Charles F. Kettering

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right! – Henry Ford

You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills. – Jim Rohn

Who likes not his business, his business likes not him. – William Hazlitt

The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many. – John Naisbitt

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed. – Henry Ford

It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path at Dell. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference. – Michael Dell

If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. – Ray Kroc

Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating. – Denis Waitley

Management is nothing more than motivating other people. – Le Iacocca

Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question. – Peter Drucker

Why did I want to win? Because I didn’t want to lose! – Max Schmelling

To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business. – J. Paul Getty

To win without risk is to triumph without glory. – Pierre Corneille

To succeed… You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. – Tony Dorsett

Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. – Zig Ziglar

I wasn’t satisfied just to earn a good living. I was looking to make a statement. – Donald Trump

Whether it’s Google or Apple or free software, we’ve got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes. – Bill Gates

Comments

Great quotes, Neil; if you donâ€™t mind, I may tweet a few of them. Hereâ€™s one of my favorites from Nietzsche (one of the most misunderstood philosophers who ever lived): â€œ[B]elieve me: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment isâ€”to live dangerously. Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! Send your ships into unchartered seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves!â€ Cheers, @ScottEdWalker

â€œIf you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.â€
Jim Rohn is superb

Wow! I really dig some of these… Personally, I read a lot of business and marketing books. I hi-light passages when I read something I like and I use post-it notes for reference… If I pulled some books off the shelf I’m sure I could come up with a few to share…

Donald Trumps: “The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received” is filled with quotes that I like!

Exactly! You only have one life to live, so enjoy it to the fullest. As a human being, we naturally have the ability to grow, it’s what keeps us moving forward. Why not accelerate the learning/taking action process to get what you want sooner… right?

Accelerate the process but not forget to still live your life. If we start thinking about money and start a business as soon as we get out of college we tend to miss some of the beautiful things in life. It’s like starting a family. You get married, you have children and after that everything that you do is for your children and you just skipped a part of life.

I don’t even think about starting a family if I know that I can not offer my children all what they need. I don’t see the point in getting married and having children if you can’t raise them properly and offer the the right education. It’s nonsense. I see lots of young couples who have kids and they don’t have money to feed them. That is cruelty from my point of view. Of course, this depends on the level of education they received.

some families and people don’t always make the decision to have children and they do the best they can and make the best of a not ideal situation. I find your comments rude unnecessary. If everyone had the choice to raise their families with money then of course that would be the case but not everyone makes decisions based on money…xo

I don’t think Neil’s comments are rude… they are actually well thought of and they are in fact reaching out to his circle of followers, the ones who are money hungry and want success for their business. If that’s not the case, then a parenting blog would be his main topic.

Most people remain stuck on dreaming and that is why they fail in their life. Having the courage to take action is very important. You can dream for as long as you want but don’t forget to start acting at some point.

Very inspiring guys, thanks for sharing a bit of your life experience with people like me, people that are only initiating there professional life and eager for advices and inspiration to continue and actually succeed in this corporate/business world

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. â€“ Henry Ford.
So true, you just need to make sure someone else is not that competitor but you

Yeah, I am totally agree with you, Neil Patel. Only failure can helping us to make change mind and action to correct path of success. I have always learn from failure and mistake i have done it before. My life try to be simple , easy, I don’t want trouble no money everyday.

Hi Neil ,
Indeed , those are extremely motivational Quotes .
I just have a suggestion , next time when you have so many points in a single article , try breaking it up into Part 1 & Part 2 .
Because , people generally have the tendency to start reading from the begining & then if it is too long , they either skip the middle ones or the last ones 🙂

Hi,
Neil Patel, your every step is really useful for motivation. I have read few of your articles but this post is really informative. According to me thereâ€™s not a business anywhere that is without problems. Business is complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product.

Great list , I love quotes… and yeah the social media space will eat this up. I posted the Steve Jobs commencement interview once on my blog. People loved it. Great speech. Youtube: steve jobs commencement.

My favorite quote: Winning is not a sometime thing; itâ€™s an all time thing. You donâ€™t win once in a while, you donâ€™t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. â€“ Vince Lombardi

Kind of says it all about my perspective on business, I’m sure you would agree.

Bill gates quote is not bad indeed.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. I have also experience this with my customers when they are not satisfied with something, we learn lots of things with them.

Great selection of quotes, Neil! I featured your site in my blog today, at http://johnmcdonnell.wordpress.com/. I love motivational quotes, because they condense practical wisdom into a sentence or two. You picked some winners there!

Really nice and motivating quotes. I feel some of these quotes are really practical and can help add lot of value to ones’ business. E.g. the quote about improving ur own business and not thinking about the competition.

I like the second one:
My son is now an â€˜entrepreneurâ€™. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re called when you donâ€™t have a job. â€“ Ted Turner
All unemployed people should be called like that. However, they act in other ways of life…

I have no respect for warren buffet, why would you say that because i learned the truth about him.

He doesnt want to audit the federal reserve bank. What does that mean? That means he has invested in these corrupt banks thats why he is so rich. He has insider knowledge about these banks, so he invested as such and made more money then he would have actually made.

He is in simple terms a fraud. Robert Kiyoaski now that is a business man

my favorites are..
The good or ill of a man lies within his own will. â€“ Epictetus
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. â€“ Peter F. Drucker
The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed. â€“ Henry Ford

I was looking for this for quite a while, but thank you these quotes were exactly what I was looking for! I am going to retweet this page for you! I went to your linked in but it wouldn’t let me add you to my network…

Just another interesting quote from Bill Gates:
Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren’t so exciting-Bill Gates

Another quote :
My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things-Bill Gates

My son is now an â€˜entrepreneurâ€™. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re called when you donâ€™t have a job. â€“ Ted Turner ~ this is totally my Dad!

Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman. â€“ George Soros….
I find this quote to be quite thought provoking in these times. Big companies have slashed benefits, don’t hang on to employees, they replace them with younger cheaper ones. Its is sad that companies don’t look out for their employees anymore.

My son is now an â€˜entrepreneurâ€™. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re called when you donâ€™t have a job. â€“ Ted Turner…. I love it that is kinda what my dad said for a few years before he figured out what i do. He really thought I was making it all up.

This is a great list of quotes, both for those seeking success, and those frustrated with the lack of it. Our favorite definitely has to be the one that starts with, “Get off your butt,” because that is where all success begins. It is the process of moving from thinking to doing.

My top favorite #32. RIP Steve World misses you and your inventions.
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations”. â€“ Steve Jobs

My son is now an â€˜entrepreneurâ€™. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re called when you donâ€™t have a job. â€“ Ted Turner This is one for all my Dad’s friends. He sais he is proud of me cause I don’t live at home and support myself.

Great list of quotes you’ve complied here, and those shared in the comments as well. I’ll definitely be bookmarking this page and coming back often when I need an inspirational quote for my newsletter. Thanks!

Great list of quotes youâ€™ve complied here, and those shared in the comments as well. Iâ€™ll definitely be bookmarking this page and coming back often when I need an inspirational quote for my newsletter.

Really all these quotes are very motivational not only for business man but also for a person who wants to achieve success in his life. I like this one so much-“The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. â€“ Debbi Fields”

This one is the best –>> My son is now an â€˜entrepreneurâ€™. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re called when you donâ€™t have a job. â€“ Ted Turner

But is thats EXACTLY it though??!!! I mean who in the world WANTS to have a job? am I right? So being an entrepreneur (most of the time) is doing something you LOVE and working for yourself. Could there be anything better? I think NOT

The golden rule for every business man is this: â€œPut yourself in your customerâ€™s place. â€“ Orison Swett Marden is my favourite…

I’m doing some Online marketing classes here in Macedonia, and after I formed a few initial groups, the word of mouth brought all the new students, without a penny spent on marketing! I’m actually looking out for new office space this week….

I might of missed it but from the greatest speaker and salesmen of all time my hero Zig Ziglar “you can have everything you want in life if you just help Enough other people get what they want”. You can’t leave that one out. It’s like the golden rule in sales and life in general. Which of course go hand and hand. Happy new year.

What a list, made me look att 2013 from a different angle , just made my day with all great quotes from a greater speakers, Thanx Neil and hope youÂ´ll have a great year. lov your blog by the way. cheers

then methodology and tactics must be comprehended well, and in addition a significant control over prospect figurings. A pure ace has technique planing manufactured in him; he gets a load of minimum a couple steps ahead, each with a couple plausible situations.

For sure many student don’t want that ROTC to be included on their university , spectrum analyzer and if they imposed it mandatory, I guess follow some personal rights which protects the dignity of every student by having that Don’t ask Don’t tell policy.The cost of education is really becoming very expensive for average students and I think something should be done about it baseball field covers.

Hi Neil
I read all business quotes ,which you provided in this post and i have bookmarked this post to read these quotes again when i feel Demotivate ,very nice collection
feeling very glad on being here

Thank you for this wonderful post and your educational articles. i look forward to learn more from you in the areas of social media marketing ” exp how to get customers and how to give them a quality content as you have defined a quality Content to be a content that solve a real problem.

This is a very interesting case study page Neil. I’m interested to learn more about your thoughts on it.
Inspirational quotes are one of the most competitive terms to rank for in the world on Google. Is it worth competing for this?

Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am inspired!
Extremely helpful information specially the ultimate part 🙂 I take care
of such info a lot. I used to be seeking this certain info for a very lengthy time.
Thanks and good luck.

First off I want to say fantastic blog! I had a quick question that I’d like
to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing.
I have had trouble clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out there.
I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first
10 to 15 minutes tend to be lost simply just trying to
figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips?
Kudos!

Having read this I thought it was rather informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article
together. I once again find myself personally spending way too
much time both reading and posting comments.
But so what, it was still worth it!

Reasons You Are Failing In Your Online Business
Now, this is going to sound crazy, but the people over at Insta Builder have just released their new sales page for their “drag & drop” sales funnel creator (the one that over 6000 marketers are using right now)…
And I have to tell you…
If you need a “checklist” for your sales funnel (to make sure you are getting the highest conversions possible) you NEED to read that letter.
Here is the link >>> http://instabuilder.com?v1afs8g4S51B6A8J6A
I’m not even joking right now.
Get out a pen and piece of paper, go to the sales page, and go through all 32 of those points.
If your sales funnel isn’t taking advantage of EVERY SINGLE ONE of those conversion boosting tactics… then your funnel isn’t performing like it should.

Hi Neil, this is a great article!!, my favorite quote is “If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.”– Mark Zuckerberg